SIGN OF THE TIMES – Owner John Evans points to the sign outside Up The Creek Again restaurant at 36 Old Colony Drive advertising a $.99 cent fish and chips dinner (with purchase of two beverages, be it coffee, tea, soda, beer or cocktails, at regular prices.)

Hyannis eatery offers patrons saving grace

The small, dusty SUV with New York plates drove by the Up The Creek Again restaurant on Old Colony Drive in Hyannis, then suddenly slowed and backed up. Two heads inside the car craned to peer at the sign that read “Fish and Chips, $.99 cents.”

They were obviously experiencing the same disbelief as the woman on the phone who called the “Creek” to ask bartender Bill Woods if there was a mistake in the modest newspaper advertisement heralding the 99-cent fare.

“We’ve been getting a lot of calls like that in response to the ad and the sign,” said Creek owner John Evans. “They think it’s a mistake…but make no mistake, it’s no mistake.”

One woman here on a two-week vacation drove to the restaurant just to see if the price wasn’t a misprint, he said. “She said they didn’t have much money to spend and couldn’t believe they could get a meal and a few drinks for under $10.”

OK. Enough hype. What’s the catch?

There isn’t any - except the catch of the day, a/k/a “scrod.” What proves it, Evans said, was the line waiting outside last Friday. “That’s something I haven’t seen in more than three years. For that price, we stipulate only that a patron buy two drinks of his/her choice, be it soft drinks or hard. I make nothing on the meal but if I sell 90 meals, that’s 180 drinks.” Two sodas and fish and chips comes to a recession-friendly $5.

Evans said he needed to do something to revitalize the sagging kitchen sales wrought by an uncertain economy while giving the public sweating the hard times a night out or leisurely lunch that won’t break the bank.

“It isn’t an overflowing dish,” Evans said. “We give a decent-sized filet of scrod, whereas the market might charge $10 to $18 for a filet and half. Let me put it this way: Nobody has complained about the portions, or the service, or anything else, particularly the price.” Depending on what a patron drinks, the meal could sum up at $5 to just under $10.

Obviously, Evans has to cut some corners to make this blossom into a win-win situation for his business and customers, which includes “regulars that are coming back.” So he serves the meals in “boats” – an outdoorsy, touristy, vacation way to go while cutting dishwashing costs.

Inspired by the response to Depression-era priced fish ‘n’ chips, Evans finds himself - like lobster salad - on a roll. With the Friday success of the fish plate, he’s moved into Saturdays with a $3.99 offering of baby back ribs and corn on the cob, and he’s thinking about adding a dollop of baked beans.

Evans said some customers who are attracted by the price but have sworn off fried food come in anyway and order something else at the Creek’s regular price. “Some families come in and the parents order fish ‘n chips but kids want pizza, which we offer on a buy one, get one at half price basis.” Others with bigger appetites might order some chowder first and still get away with a meal for less than $10, he said